ACT® English

Practice

ACTEN-GX4SPE

Read the following passage, which contains some underlined or numbered words or phrases. Each of the answer choices contains alternatives for the underlines; choose the one that fits best grammatically or stylistically. If you think the original is the best answer, choose Choice ‘A’, or NO CHANGE.

Questions about specific parts of the passage or about the passage as a whole are identified by numbers only, not underlines. These will be associated with specific questions.

Pole Vaulting Blind

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Pole Vaulting Blind

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[1]

​At the age of three months, Charlotte Brown was diagnosed with infant cataracts and by the time she was in sixth

​grade, her good eye was deteriorated so much it was like looking through a coffee stirrer. In an interview with ESPNw,

​Charlotte joked that her left eye was only, “there for decoration.” Growing up with brothers active in a variety of sports,

​Charlotte tried them all, eventually choosing track. She competed in the 200 meters and the 4x400, using her limited

​vision discerned the grass infield from the track to stay in her lane. But her vision grew even worse in her sophomore

​year, so she decided to deemphasize running events and had concentrated on pole vaulting.

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[2]

​Pole vaulting blind? After her parents expressed concern about her safety, the sixteen-year-old explained

​her idea of using a series of beepers down the runway and one in the box where she plants her pole. Her coaches

​are also allowed to stand near the runway and guide her by whistling to keep her in line; and when to start the vault.

​When her father expressed concern about her under-planting and landing on the concrete, he said in the same

​interview, “But then she told me, ‘Dad, if you’re twelve, thirteen feet in the air and falling through the sky and

​something goes wrong, good vision will not save you.’”

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[3]

​On May 9, 2014 the blind Emory Rains High School junior was slated to compete in the Texas Class 3A state track

​meet. The previous year, as a sophomore, she had finished eighth at the state meet with a jump of ten feet, six inches.

​During the season she had vaulted a personal best of (12)over twelve foot in practice, and finished second in the

​regionals with a vault of 11 feet, 3 inches.

Created for Albert.io. September 2014

During the season she had vaulted a personal best of (12over twelve foot in practice, and finished second in the regionals with a vault of 11 feet, 3 inches.